Not Over Yet
by hellhoundhavoc
Summary: WARNING: POST-END GAME Amon's mask may have been swept away with the current, but the equalists are not done with their mission. Without a leader who can take one's bending, the equalists will be forced to use force to get what they want—deadly force. With the stakes raised, an old face is brought back by two strangely familiar strangers. M for Violence and Language later on.
1. Prologue

Grey skies loomed ominously overhead as they watched the four, maybe five, remaining members of a culture that they'd long to learn and live by, take to the sky. Many of their friends and family also left on their large flying bison, fleeing from the island under siege. Yet these young devotes decided to stay behind. Someone had to defend their island and their way of life—someone had to keep the attacking force from following the last air benders and the young avatar. Adorned in robes of oranges, reds, and browns, the small group prepared themselves for a fight with forces that had long had everyone on edge. The revolutionaries meant to take the gift of the air benders, and every bender in Republic City. The non-bending acolytes had nothing to fear from their leader, but they had to make a stand against the equalists to protect their way of life. They promised the eldest air bender that they would do their best to buy his family time to escape, just as the members of the White Lotus had promised before them. They waved to the small family and proceeded to find the chi-blockers.

They had to protect the legacy of Avatar Aang, and just like the benders before them, the air acolytes slowly fell to the equalists' superior fighting power and ability to numb their limbs. One of the younger acolytes, new to the circle, seemed to give the equalists more of a fight. New to pacifism, this particular young man seemed to know how to fight and if not for being outnumbered, perhaps would have given one of the invaders quite the challenge. Yet, there was only so much this one fighter could do to prevent the forces from collecting him and his fellow acolytes. After a brief discussion with a disgruntled lieutenant who was brushing leaves and dirt from his uniform, the figures descended back upon the smaller group of fighters and began to lead them to an air ship, intending to take them to one of the prisons, where the captured benders often sat to await equalization.

As the group was lead down a stone path towards the large ship, the grey skies opened and rain began to fall. In mid stride, their captors stopped. The young fighter, his arms held by two of the invaders, looked over the island to find their masked leader surrounded by a small group; another air ship floating around them. From a distance, the remaining air acolytes watched as Amon accomplished one of his greatest feats.

He had captured former Chief, Lin Beifong.

The young man took in a few sharp breathes as the pair seemed to exchange words though they were too far away to hear. She seemed at peace; even from a distance, he could see that she was at peace. Until the monster stepped around her, and in the pouring rain, they watched as he stripped her of her bending. The world seemed to go silent as she descended to the ground and lied there, powerless and seemingly fragile.

Something snapped in the young acolyte and within seconds, he'd thrown his elbows into the noses of his two holders. His sudden activity had shocked the equalists, and when he broke into a full sprint away from them, he disappeared. They stumbled briefly before desperately trying to reclaim their captive. They never found him; it seemed that he had disappeared altogether, as though he'd never been there at all. Unable to find him, the revolutionaries left the island, taking the others back to their jail with the former chief. Some claimed that he must have taken to the water, but with the time they'd spent looking for him, if he had, he would have surely drowned in the choppy sea.

Of course, the reign of Amon would not last. He would be unmasked by the avatar days later, and flee town with his brother, Tarrlok. Neither would ever be seen again. Yet, even with their leader unmasked as a fraud, the equalist did not find their cause empty. If anything, the discovery that their once esteemed leader was secretly a blood bender only enraged them further. Without an individual to take the bending of their foes, they had no choice. To bring about a world where everyone was equal, they would have to end the benders, permanently.


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Don't rip me too hard, this is the first time I've written fan fiction in a long time, but I couldn't prevent this from happening… it was in my head… and now it's on the internet. Enjoy.**

* * *

Only one short month ago, they were all at the South Pole. They were enduring such a dark time, as the best healer in the world could not seem to restore what was lost. Yet, when things seemed to hit their lowest point, the world opened up for the greatest change. With all but one element at her disposal, Korra was able to connect with her past lives and the other three elements were restored. In a shocking change, she was able to enter the Avatar State. With the power of her past lives, Korra was able to restore Lin's bending. With what was lost restored, the small group returned to Republic City, hopeful that the future would bring peace in the once war torn city. Amon was defeated, they expected to come home to the normal problems—triads abusing individuals, petty theft, and occasionally a murder but nothing that would truly put fear into anyone's hearts. They expected the dark cloud that once loomed over Republic City to be gone.

They were wrong.

As they entered the city, something seemed off. Though life appeared to be normal once more, the darkness that had once gripped the city had not lifted. Perhaps it was paranoia, or maybe it was the fact that there was no correct way of punishing equalist supporters without inciting similar problems that Amon had caused in the past. For the first few days, the equalists were quiet. No one had been hurt; there had been no attacks on the police or the reinstated council (who was still waiting for a new representative from the Northern Water Tribe.) There seemed to be no logical reason for the feeling to still drift through the streets but the feeling continued to loom.

Naturally, Lin returned to the police force and oversaw the restoration of her metal bender's bending. With Amon taken down, she felt it was her obligation to continue to lead her metal benders, as well as begin to recruit more citizens to the force beyond just metal benders. At this point, they were working out the kinks in the program; if they were going to have other benders and non-benders on the force, they needed to find a more appropriate uniform and greatly change the equipment to be friendlier to others. At the moment, all the squads had at least one metal bender to handle the problems that had not yet been work out. The extra recruits were welcomed, especially with the circumstances.

The first riot was days after Lin returned to her old position. The day had been mostly quiet until it seemed that, suddenly, former equalists had formed a mob in the park. There were cheers about taking down benders and slurs being thrown at the police who responded. One of the senior officers was hit with rotten tomato; other had to dodge pots and pans. The crowd protected those who hit the police officers, preventing the arrests of their own. Things were calming until an over eager fire bender attempted to disburse the crowd through force. Several of the officers found themselves fighting off angry non-benders, some of whom were using sticks and rocks to strike them. Though no one was seriously hurt, this was only the first of many of the fights the police would encounter. All was not well in Republic City, and it certainly didn't get better as more officers attempted to use force to keep the rioters from destroying the city.

This wasn't the peak of the violence. Though there were riots where rotten food and dishes were hurled at the police officers, there were also peaceful protests that, unfortunately, were unable to promote their message due to their more violence associates. The non-violent non-benders were just normal individuals that had been affected by the cruel and suppressive laws enforced by Tarrlok before his disappearance. Of course, these innocent protestors found themselves quickly and unjustly manhandled in order to keep the streets peaceful. The remaining supporters of the old equalist movement lacked on to these moments of cruelty and hurled them with their foul tomatoes at their opponents.

Though tensions were high, no one had been seriously hurt. In order to return the town to what had once been normal, the council authorized the reopening of the pro-bending arena. Almost immediately, the players began to receive death threats from unknown sources; several matches were cancelled for the grand reopening before Lin claimed the fears of the pro-benders by assuring them that the police force would devote a large squad to keeping the arena and the players protected. This had calmed the fear of some, though not all. One particular pro-bender made a comment about the protestors and their validity.

The papers published an interview with the young player, who claimed that the movement had begun to die. Without their charismatic leader, eventually the riots would stop as would the violence. He claimed that his fellow benders did not need to worry.

For his arrogance, he paid with his life. The new equalists made their point very clear; the age of bending was over and they used the celebrated athlete as an example. No one was safe.

* * *

The moment the ship came to the harbor, the three realized that they had to be careful how they presented themselves in Republic City. It was necessary to remain safe and to prevent anyone from 'stealing' their bending. Unfortunately, the young man leading the charge into Republic City had left before the fall of Amon.

As they stepped off the cold metal deck of the only passenger ship willing to take them to the hostile city, the young man immediately took the arm of the elderly woman. If they were going to be believable, he was going to have to 'help' her through the streets. Naturally, this did not please the woman. Though she wasn't sure what his plan was, he'd hoped to be able to offer their services to the chief of police—well at least his help and the elder woman. His younger brother was not even a teenager yet, and though the young one wanted to help, he was too young (which, of course, was the whole reason that he wasn't left back at home.) The older of the two brothers was distracted by watching out for his brother, making sure that he fell in step with their grandmother and often scolded him for getting too far ahead or behind.

After several blocks of silence, other than the occasional scolding from the older boy, their grandmother finally spoke up. "I don't need your help." She commented, almost out of the blue. She jerked her arm back from the tall teen. "I'm perfectly fine walking on my own, you know. I'm not helpless" It wasn't unlike her to provoke him, but in this case, she was more annoyed by how overbearingly protective the boy seemed to be of her. She was, after all, an established fighter and even in old age, could go round for round with any younger competitor.

Of course, her sudden comments only received a snort from the young man. Though normally, it was a rule not to disrespect one's elders, he was certain that she would have done the same to him if the situation was reversed.

"You're an eighty-three year old blind woman, of course you're helpless." The teen antagonized almost unconscious of his actions. He was able to take a few more steps before the ground seemed to 'slip' from underneath him. He proceeded to eat the pavement, able to narrowly avoid hurting actually getting hurt by the sudden fall.

"You sure that _I'm_ the helpless one, Tipsy?" his grandmother spoke down to him in a voice filled with faux concern for his well-being.

A pout painted across his face as he looked up at her from the ground. "Touché" He commented before she single handedly pulled him up from the ground. "Now, please, don't do that again. You never know who's watching." His voice was laced with a mixture of a harsh demand and true concern for their well-being as he straightened his cap and dusted off his long coat. Able the pick up on his brother's concern, the young brother decided to interject to break the tension.

"Don't worry Kun, I think we're going to be okay. They'd get a bad rep for beating up a twelve year old and an old lady." The younger brother gave him a bright grin, one so deep it showed in his grey eyes, only contained by the unkempt dark brown locks that fell into his face. He had intended on cheering up his brother with the statement, but only found his words used as ammo.

"You on the other hand…" their grandmother commented sarcastically. Though it hadn't been the youngest intention, the comment had managed to make the eldest one snicker.

"Right, right, right. Well, personally, I'd enjoy not getting my ass handed to me my first day back, so could we please keep all… you know… to a minimum?" His grandmother was about to agree before a familiar face seemed almost to appear just down the street from them. She stood in full uniform and without a doubt; she hadn't changed since the day he disappeared from the island. Without thinking, the formerly cool-headed leader of the trio bolted full speed towards her. He completely neglected the fact that she was already talking to someone.

"Mom." That was the first clue to her conversation partner that something was off; the second was that this mysterious stranger was able to hug a woman who normally did not let anyone touch her without being immediately thrown off. The teen put his hands on Lin's shoulders and began to ask what seemed like a thousand questions, hiding in a few statements. Of course, he started with the phrase; _I saw Amon take your bending_ and proceeded to evolve down the list. He asked about what happened and how she got away from the equalists, if she'd been out of her armor since her bending was taken away, and did she need help, because he would help her out if she needed help. It wasn't until she cleared her throat that he actually stopped talking and realized that there was someone behind him who was rather confused. Slowly the teen looked over his shoulder and found himself glancing at the councilman representing the air benders and the acolytes, Tenzin.

Each seemed just as shocked to see the other there, immediately the color drained out of Kun's face. Naturally, words seemed to cease coming from his mouth. He looked back at his mother and then back at the councilman. His voice seemed to change octaves. "Uh, I'm so sorry, you're not who I thought you were, how-embarassing-I-should-really-just-get-going." He didn't even stop to breathe. In attempts to avoid any more awkward confrontation, the boy started slowly back to the small group.

Unable and unwilling to do damage control at this point, Lin had no real choice as she looked over and saw the small group he'd managed to drag along. "Kun, what the hell are you doing here?" He was one of the few faces that she hadn't expected to see in Republic City, mostly because she'd banned both of her boys from coming into the city without her present to make sure that they were safe. Of course, she never truly thought that they would be safe, so she almost never brought them to the city. "And why are you in disguise?"

"Uh…" naturally, that was the first sound to exit his mouth. He straightened his newsie cap and pulled at his jacket slightly. "It doesn't look natural at all does it…" he asked, attempting to avoid the first question.

"Kun."

"Okay! Okay! I knew you'd need help, so here I am and I'm ready to get you any help you need. I can help you with the"

"Absolutely not!" she cut him off. "You do not know what's going on here; it's not safe for you to be here. I want you to go back home this instant."

"But you need my help!" He retorted.

Within seconds, their conversation had turned into a full scale argument. Tenzin stood back and watched two stubborn forces clash over who was staying to fight who and if he was competent enough to be fighting with the police force and how he wasn't very old, but he was old enough to be fighting—it was a jumbled mess. Tenzin wanted to break up the fight several times, but was unable to put himself in between the two fighting forces. Within moments, the wise air bending master was joined by Kun's two companions. Naturally, he greeted the older of the two. "Aunt Toph, it is so good to see you again."

"Save it Fancy-feet." Toph retorted quickly before slamming her foot into the ground and successfully separating Lin and Kun before they began bending the earth around them to win their argument with the other. The pair were jolted from their argument and immediately, their eyes fell upon the head matriarch of their family. "Are you two done with your little conversation or am I going to have to ground you both?" The comment was followed by silence.

"That's not even funny grandma." The younger boy commented softly, only to be nudged off his feet.

"You brought your _grandmother_!" Lin turned her attention back to her eldest son.

"She's a good fighter!" Kun replied "and I figured that-" The pair began to argue once more.

"Enough!" Toph raised a block between the pair, realizing that there had to be a physical force between them. Though it would have been simple for either earth bender to simply lower the block and continue their argument, neither felt the need nor desire to continue it—especially if it meant going against Toph's wishes.

It was astonishing to Tenzin, how both Lin and Kun could share the same pouting expression and almost flawlessly cross their arms at the same time. Once the pair seemed to calm down—or at least get at the point that they wouldn't immediately go at each other's throats; Toph lowered the wall, giving each a scolding point. Once the pair had calmed, the previously quiet younger brother sped over to the pouting chief of police and nearly knocked her down with a hug. "I'm glad you're okay, momma. Kun told us all about Amon and the equalists and-"

"and your little brother?"

"What was I supposed to do? Leave him home alone?" Kun defended; the earth gave a small rumble and the subject was quickly dropped.

With the awkward phase of arguing over, Tenzin cleared his throat. It was remarkable how quickly the older boy averted his gaze. "Lin. I do not believe I've heard about your children." The presence of the two was intriguing, mostly because at one point, Lin had made it rather clear that she did not want children. Mixed with his desire to know more about the two boys, he felt a twinge of jealousy. He wondered mostly inappropriate questions that he didn't dare ask—were the pair adopted? No, that wouldn't explain how Lin and her oldest, Kun looked so similar. That left one very pressing question, who was their father?

"As it should be, I didn't think Republic City was safe for either of them." Though Lin spoke to Tenzin, it was clear that she was speaking to the young man looking away from them. "They're supposed to be in Gaoling with their grandmother—whose idea was this?" Of course, none of them seemed to fess up to whose idea it was to come to Republic City—which was either for Kun's safety or to prevent another argument.

Seeing the opening to introduce him, the youngest stepped forward. "Hi, I'm Anan." He almost shook Tenzin's hand then stopped and sloppily bowed to the man in the robe, assuming he was a master of something and that it was only polite to bow.

"Anan, that's not how" Kun's voice stopped the moment he felt eyes on him. "Nevermind." By this time it was too late. Kun would have jerked away as Tenzin stepped towards him but he knew that it would have been useless. He looked towards the man from under the bill of his cap.

"You look very familiar, Kun." Tenzin's words put both Kun and Lin on edge. Though Kun was clearly a teenager, he and Tenzin seemed to be eye-to-eye in height.

"Probably just look like one of the metal bender from the force." Kun quickly dismissed, he crossed his arms in front of his chest, and looked to his mother briefly. The air bender thought briefly, lightly stroking his beard as he looked the boy over once more.

"No, that's not it… it's something different." Tenzin commented. He took a step toward Kun and Kun seemed to jerk back. Tenzin gave him another look over. The air bender almost let out a hum of frustration. "Would you kindly remove your hat?"

"No." Kun snapped back almost too eagerly and too strongly. He made the mistake of looking to Lin, and then darting his eyes away like a child unwilling to accept the blame for a cookie they'd eaten. Despite wanting to support the decision not to take off the hat, Lin stepped in.

"Take off the hat, _now_." She demanded. He opened his mouth to respond but she was glaring and he knew it was better just to obey and deal with the inevitable. He reached up and removed the newsie cap from his head. It was obvious that not too long ago, someone had shaved it down to his head; it was just barely growing out now. His squared jaw was covered with a beard which had been dubbed an 'Aang beard' by many. His black hair and emerald colored eyes showed his earth bender roots. Though it wasn't clear in the past, now that he was standing next to his mother, it was clear that he had her eyes. The moment he took the hat off, Tenzin snapped his fingers and gave a slight smile.

"Jinshu! We thought we lost you. Lin, this is acolyte I told you about, the one that went missing the night we evacuated."

"Your hair!" Lin diverted as Kun shrunk. He wasn't supposed to be in Republic City and he certainly wasn't supposed to be on Air Temple Island. In the few times she'd felt the need to bring him to the city, she'd been very clear about the rules. He was to stay at the house unless she was with him and he was not to venture off to the island. He was not to disturb the monks in their meditation or bother the air bender, which in recent years had changed to air benders. She may have been mad about him coming to the city, but he could tell by her overly cool demeanor and aversion of the subject that he was never going to live down the acolyte 'fiasco' as he was sure they would call it later.

"Tenzin, I'm going to have to talk with you a bit later, I'm sure that my mother is exhausted from her trip and the boys will want to catch up. " Lin said simply grabbing Kun by the arm and waving Anan over to her. "sometime tomorrow perhaps?"

"that sounds"

"Great, see you then!" Within moments, the chief of police was dragging the teenager along, followed by her bouncing preteen, who seemed to have a bit ore bounce in his step and her mother, who seemed to be amused by the whole situation.

Needless to say, it left Tenzin with a lot of unanswered questions.


End file.
